


That Fucking Bird

by honeydonnie



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Bird fic, Gen, Raphael is not amused
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 21:46:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16731207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeydonnie/pseuds/honeydonnie
Summary: Everyone in the lair loves Donnie’s new pet bird. Everyone except Raph, who is convinced the bird is the literal spawn of Satan.





	That Fucking Bird

**Author's Note:**

> dumb fic i made to make myself happy. Im a proud mother of 5 cockatiels and let me tell you they are the sweetest creature alive but when one doesn't like you or doesn't have their way, they are the biggest brats around. If yall got any suggestions as to how to make the fic better or see any mistakes don't hesitate to say smn. I'm always a slut for comments! Hope you enjoy!

“Leo, I’m heading to the junkyard, be back soon!” Don yelled out to inform his over-anxious brother of his whereabouts before leaving. Leo simply replied with a “be carefull” and a small smile. He got one overprotective brother off of his shell but forgot about the other.

“The hell you are! You are not going out alone.” Raph yelled from his room. He came out and dropped onto the lower level of the lair, landing in between Don and the doorway. “I’m coming with you.”

“Raph, the foot’s been quiet lately and we don’t have anyone after our shell at the moment. I’m sure I won’t die while on a trip to the junkyard.”

“You never know Donnie-boy, so I’m coming with you. We can take the shell cycle, that way we’ll get there faster.”

Don huffed in a mix of annoyance and amusement and trailed after Raph.

XXX

“Don, we’ve been here for ages, can we head back now?” Raph whined for the third time in the past ten minutes, much to Don’s annoyance. He was starting to remind him more and more of his youngest brother as time went on. They had been scavenging for a little while longer than what they usually take and hadn’t found much but Don wanted to continue searching. Despite their lack of success in finding anything useful so far, Don had a feeling in his gut that tonight he would find something big, he just wished he knew what it was.

“You know Raph, you didn’t have to come with me.” Don said, trying really hard not to tase his brother so that he could shut the hell up.

“And leave you alone with possible danger?! You know I love our little trips out but you’re not even paying attention to me and we’re taking a lot longer than we usually do…” Raph continued on ranting and Don did his best to block him out and continued looking through the piles of debris. Eventually Raph got tired of being ignored.

“Don, Donnie-boy, Donnie, Donnie, Purple, Sugarplum, Honeybun, oh sweet brother of mi-”

“Okay Raph I heard you! Let’s go home!” Don snapped and turned to see Raph’s face which had a shit-eating grin on it.

“Well, if you insist.” He said and Don had to remind himself that murder was not a moral act. Don felt a small surge of disappointment hit him, I really thought we were gonna-

“Uhhh, Don, you hear that?” Coming from their side behind a quite large pile of debri they heard small pat pat pat pat’s. Raph pulled Don behind him. “What the-, Raph I’m sure it’s nothi-” “Shhh Don” Raph stealthily moved towards the pile and drop kicked the bottom of it, causing the entire pile to fall. Rather than finding a hidden foot soldier they saw a box with a tiny goo-covered featherless baby bird flapping its wings about, desperately trying to rid itself of the black tar on its back and wings. 

“Watch out Raph, he can smell fear.” Don giggled.

“Hilarious.” Raph said sarcastically. Don approached the bird and tried to identify it but the grime covering it impedes his ability to identify the species. 

“I think it’s cockatiel or conure.”

“All just birds to me.” 

Don continued inspecting the birds body. It was a wonder that the baby hadn’t died yet in the cold of the night, his best guess was that it hadn’t been out for long. After one good look at it he noticed the chick’s wing was at an odd angle, he concluded that the wing was either broken or dislocated. He guessed someone must’ve cruelly thrown out the poor bird for that reason, it’s previous owner probably didn’t want to deal with a possibly broken bird. Besides the broken wing, the chicks breast had a small gash on it that dripped small droplets of blood. The blood loss was dangerous considering how small the bird was, Don guessed it couldn’t have been more than 3 months old.

“What are you looking at, Donnie?” Raph said.

“This chicks badly injured, I’m surprised it’s even alive. I think I can do something about its wing and the black goo can be washed up but the cut on it’s breast, even though it is small, it causing blood loss. Something this small doesn’t have a lot of blood to spare.” Don lifted the box, took the bird out and wrapped it in a rag he got out from his duffel bag. “Let’s pass by a petshop so I can get baby formula for it, just go slow on the shell cycle.”

“My baby ain’t supposed to go slow.” Raph grumbled as he got on the bike, Don got on and wrapped one arm around Raph’s waist and the other around the box with the chick inside. Raph started the engine and off they went. The picked up the formula and left the money on the counter then headed home. They arrived to find that Mikey had already passed out on the couch with a comic book on his face and Splinter had retreated for the night. Leo was still up and waited in the living room, sitting next to Mikey.

“What took you two so long? You had me worried sick, I was about to head out to look for you.” Leo whispered careful not to wake the youngest.

“Calm down Fearless, Brainiac over here just found a baby bird and it stalled us for longer than usual.” Raph said while heading to the kitchen to binge on some leftovers.

“A baby bird? Don, explain.” Leo said turning his attention to the box Don held.

“I found him in the junkyard,” Don said showing the bird to Leo who felt his heart in his throat at the sight, “he’s injured so I figured I could fix him up. We had to pass by a pet store first though so that I could get some formula and other small stuff for it.” Leo saw the helpless chick and swallowed the lump on his throat. Don noticed the chick had the same effect on his oldest brother as it did on him.

“Alright Don, well good luck with that. Hopefully you can get the little guy back to normal. I’m heading off to bed now, don’t stay up any later than you have to, we need the rest. And that goes for the little guy too.” Leo said just as Raph came out of the kitchen.

“I’m with Fearless on this one, I’m beat. See you guys in the morning” Raph retreated to his room and Leo did the same before carrying Mikey into his.

Don headed to his room and placed all that he had gotten on the desk. He pulled the bird out of the box and began working to fix it’s wounds. He lightly rubbed off the goo from the birds feathers under warm water, the bird was in obvious discomfort but was too tired to fight back. Instead, it only made angry hissing noises that made Don chuckle a little.

“It’s alright little guy, were almost done.” Don cooed at the hissing chick. With the running water he cleaned the chicks wound and Don saw that it had already scabbed over and didn’t need much more attention. He dried up the bird before placing a wrap around its broken wing. He mixed up the formula in a bowl then used a syringe to feed the chick, it struggled at first but then eagerly took the food when it realized what it was. 

“There!” Don said proudly. “All better now.” He placed the bird in a new cage with blankets and a special heating pad he made at the bottom to keep it warm. The bird instantly calmed and layed down to rest. Now that the bird was clean, Don could finally identify it. From what he gathered the bird seemed to be a cockatiel chick, no older than a couple months he guessed.

“What am I gonna name you? How about Keppler? Voltaire? Honey?” The bird chirped lightly and Don decided to take the noise as the bird agreeing.

“Okay, Honey it is.” He placed nightlights around the room so the chick wouldn’t be surrounded by darkness. “Goodnight, Honey” he said while climbing up the ladder to his bed and went to sleep. 

XXX

After a few days the bird healed up nicely and in about a months the chick had grown a significant amount. Donatello didn’t tinker as much as he normally would all the while, wanting to pay attention to the chick and reading up on how to earn its trust. The bird had obvious issues at first and would not cooperate with him but after a while Honey became absolutely infatuated with its owner. Honey would chirp up at Don’s voice and would wobble around trying to reach him. The baby was quite a handful but to Don, it was all worth it. To him, the chick was a gift, a wonderful new addition to the family.

Raphael, on the other hand, bitterly disagreed. The bird was nothing but a goddamn menace in his opinion. Ever since the little twerp dropped in Don’s full attention was on it. It didn’t help any more that the bird also took a liking to Leo, causing Don to spend more time with the oldest instead of him. Him, on the other hand, the bird could not stand. He’d walk into Don’s lab or room, anywhere that Don went the little fucker tagged along, and he’d immediately start a tantrum of loud squawking and wing flapping. The scene would bring Don to the bird and Raphael was left ignored. That bird was a demon in disguise and it had his younger brother caught in its spell. 

Raph hit his punching bag harder and harder to relieve some of the anger inside him. It’s just a stupid bird, why am I so pissed?! Raph hit again with much more strength and it ripped a hole in the bag. 

“Woah. you okay, Raph?” He heard a voice behind him and turned to see Don who was heading to the bag next to his to practice some kicks.

“Just peachy, Donnie” he grumbled. 

“Okay what’s up, you only use the word ‘peachy’ whenever you mean the opposite.” Don said pulling his attention away from his bag and crossed his arms over his chest. “C’mon Raph, spill the beans. I promise I won’t judge.” Raph decided to humor his brother and take advantage of the bonding time presented. 

“It’s nothing, let’s spar or something. I’ll even help you with your kicks.” Raph suggested, wanting to spend time with Don rather than be thinking about the little Honey bitch. 

“Okay, we can do that after you tell me what’s wrong.”

“You really ain’t gonna let me drop it, are you?”

“Nope.”

Raph sighed “Okay fine. You win.” he sat down on the mat and Don did the same. “It’s Honey. That bitch hates my guts and tries to keep me away from you.” Don stared at him for a moment before he bursted out laughing. His laughter died shortly though, when he realized that Raph wasn’t laughing along. 

“Oh my god, you’re serious.” He said a bit stunned.

“Of course I am! Don’t you see it the little bitch throws a tantrum whenever I’m around so that you’ll go to him and not me. Ya know he tries to bite me when your not around? I’m convinced that the little fucker was created by Stockman himself as a way to get back at me.”

“Raph c’mon, Honey doesn’t hate you. He just doesn’t know you that well. Look, come with me.” Don grabbed Raph by the arm and took him to his room where Honey perched comfortably on top of his desk. Donatello has decided to keep him in his room as it was big enough for Honey to practice his flying.

“Look closely.” Don said placing his hand in front of the bird. “You gotta present your hand in front of him so that he won’t be spooked by it. I’ve been working with him so just do that and say ‘step up.’” On cue the bird stepped onto Donnie’s hand and chirped happily to be with its owner. Honey eyed Raph suspiciously but refrained from screaming. Don placed the bird back on its perch. 

“Now, you try.” He said and Raph grudgingly complied, presenting its hand to the bird and prepared himself for a bite. Surprisingly, it didn’t come. There was a knock at the door and for a moment Don turned towards it. As soon as his back was turned Honey striked at Raph and bit him. 

“Motherfucker!” Raph took his hand away quickly and Honey began squawking loudly. 

“What’s going on, dudes?” Raph heard Mikey say and he and Leo entered the room. 

“The stupid bird bit me!” Raph said. Mikey, Leo, and Don both looked surprised. 

“What did you do to it, Raph?” Mikey asked defensively.

“Oh no, not you too Mikey. He’s got you under his spell too!” 

“Raph c’mon I’m sure he was just frightened.” Leo said in Honeys defense and Raph felt his blood begin to boil. It sure as hell didn’t help to see Leo and Mikey go to the birds side and the cheeky bastard quickly put its down, begging for neck scritches. 

“Raph, I’m sorry Honey bit you. I’ve never seen him act aggressively before.” Don said putting his hand on Raph’s shoulder. “I’m sure if you give him another chance and we try again-” Raph shrugged off Donnie’s hand and stormed out of the room. 

“Wow, he’s even more moody than normal.” Mikey said.

Don watched as his brother left and was about to chase after him when he felt someone grab his arm. 

“Let him go, Donnie,” Leo said “he’s angry and needs to get it out of his system. He’ll come back soon enough and then you can talk to him. I don’t think he’d listen right now.” 

“Wow guys, Raph’s really pissed at a bird! That is hilarious!” Mikey laughed as he continued petting Honey’s head. “Aww baby boy, did big bad Raphie scare ya? Don’t worry, Uncle Mikey will protect you.” The bird practically beamed at all the attention he was getting, chirping happily and leaning into Mikey’s petting.

“If Klunk wasn’t my roomate already I would’ve snatched you the minute Don got distracted.” 

“Alright Mikey that’s enough. Let’s go and so we don’t bother Don any longer. I’m sure he’s got a lot to think about.” Leo said and Mikey whined at having to leave Honey’s side. Leo Lifted the small bird to up to his face and nuzzled it lovingly with it’s cheek once before placing it back on its perch. He took Mikey by the arm and left Don alone to think.

Don had a bit of a realization then. For the last month he had only hung out with Raph about 3 or 4 times, which wasn’t anywhere near their normal 3 day a week bro-time, if not more. He remembered every time Raph would ask him to come along with him for a Midnight drive on the cell cycle and all the times he declined, because he wanted Honey’s taming to be consistent. Raph would drop in the lab more often too for the smallest of reasons, Don the toaster is broken, can you look at it? Or Hey Donnie, the bike got a scratch on it, think you can help me with it? Everytime he would reply with “Raph you don’t need my help for that.” He hadn’t noticed that it was just his brothers way of asking him to spend some time with him. Don sat down on top of the desk and felt guilt wash over him.

“I’m such an asshole.” he said. Honey recognized hi owners distress and jumped off of his perch and waddled his way to Don. He began nuzzling Don’s hand with his head, asking for affection. Don let the little guy jump onto his hand and climb his way up to his shoulder and Honey fluffed up comfortably. Don smiled sadly.

“You’re a little brat aren’t you?” he said and went into the living room to wait for Raph. He had to apologize.

XXX

Raph ran as fast as his legs could take him through the tunnels, he only stopped every once in a while to punch a brick wall or yell a curse. Stupid bird, fucking up everything! Should’ve left it in the trash! He ran and ran until he felt his legs about to give out. He looked at his shell cell and saw that he’d been out almost 2 hours, at any moment Fearless would call to nag on him and he wasn’t in the mood for it. He turned off his phone and tiredly made his way home.

He entered the lair quietly only to find Don waiting at the door for him. 

“We need to talk, Raph.”

“There’s nothing to talk about, Don.” Raph said and he felt the anger ise up in him again at the sight of Honey on Don’s shoulder. Don noticed Raph glanced at Honey and decided that it would be best to put the bird down. Honey protested when he was placed on the couch, but Don gave him a piece of millet to keep him busy and quiet. Donnie trailed after his older brother.

“Raph I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was being such and asshole.” Raph stopped immediately and Don continued on. “I spent so much time with Honey because I wanted to be able to gain his trust but I didn’t notice that I was pushing you away in the process.” Don leaned in and hugged Raph. “I’m sorry Raph, I love Honey with all my heart but you should know I could never love the feather ball more than you.” Raph felt relief go over him and he hugged Don back. “Now, How about we take a look at that scratch your bike got?” Don said and Raph chuckled lightly. Don stuck his hand towards Honey to take him to his perch but Raph stopped him.

“I’ll take him, you head to the lab and check out the bike. I’ll come right after.” Raph said and Don was about to protest but stopped himself and left. Raph had a face splitting grin on his face. He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around the bird quickly so that it wouldn’t be able to bite him or fly away. Raph laughed at the bird’s hissing, the little guy had so much anger at the moment that it could challenge his own. 

“You heard that, you little bitch?” Raph teased as he took the bird to Don’s room. “Ain’t none of your little games gonna work anymore. You got Leo and Mikey bending over backwards for you but never me. Donnie’s not gonna play along with you anymore either. You’ll just have to deal with being second best, and you wanna know who’s numero uno, little dude? Me, I go first. And you can’t do nothing about it.” He said placing the hissing bird back on it’s perch. 

Don overheard Raph’s little monologue through the door and couldn’t help but laugh a little. Raph heard Don’s giggles and stopped. He stepped out of the room sheepishly, “Uh, How much did you hear?” he asked embarrassed like.

“Not much, only all of it” Don replied and Raph felt his face go hot, suddenly he was thankful for his dark skin that hid his blush. “Now that you’re done harassing my child, let’s take a look at that bike scratch that’s been bothering you so much.” 

“Ye-ah,” his voice cracked from embarrassment and he cleared his throat before continuing, “let’s do that.” Don pulled Raph down slightly and kissed his cheek and they went off into the lab.


End file.
